Organizational Responses And Sexual And Reproductive Health Needs Of Street Children In Addis Ababa

Background - The lives of millions of street children worldwide are at risk because they do notrnhave the information, skills, health services and support they need to go through sexualrndevelopment during adolescence. It was time to put in place viable programmes or strategies thatrnwill ensure the sexual health problems street children are urgently addressed. But rigorousrnassessment has not been undertaken so far to identify whether special and street children-friendlyrnsexual and reproductive health and HIV/ AIDS prevention and treatment services were existing inrnAddis Ababa. This study is therefore undertaken to systematically investigate the fit betweenrnstreet children’s sexual and reproductive health needs and the existing programmatic responses.rnObjective - This paper tried to explore to what extent the present health interventions addressrnsexual and reproductive health needs of street children in Addis Ababa.rnMethod-Across-sectional study was conducted among 422 street children and four servicernproviders using a structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and through individualrninterview. Study participants were selected using time location sampling (TLS) technique whichrnincludes different areas at different time in five sub cities of Addis Ababa.rnResults -At the time of the survey, most participants (72.5%) were ever had sexual intercoursern(66.2% of boys, and 90.4% of girls) and the mean age at their first sexual intercourse were 15.4rnyears for males and 14.3 years for females. Comparing males and females, 84.3% of males andrn85.7% of females tended to have multiple sexual partners. Concerned to Substance use, more thanrntwo third (67.3%) of the participants were used at least one type of substance. A history of drugrnuse (OR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.42–4.56), and being on the street for the first 1-3 years (OR = 5.9;rn95% CI=1.41- 25.22) increased the likelihood of displaying sexual activity. A large proportionrn(64.9%) of the street children did not attend any kind of sexual and reproductive health educationrnprograms. Regarding Perceived and actual barriers, limited access to local sexual andrnreproductive health services, 26.5% of participants stated lack of information on availablernservices as the biggest barrier. From the individual interview with coordinator of special clinicsrnfor street children, it was indicated that financial and networking problems were affecting thernservice delivery for children by different actors.rnConclusion- Street children who are special high risk group, have not been targeted and hencerncontinue to remain vulnerable and lacking in sexual and reproductive health services that cater torntheir needs and sexual health services are poorly advertised and delivered to them.

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